Authors

Shireen Shaikh

Senior Counsel – Knowledge

Read More

Kathryn Clapp

Senior Counsel – Knowledge

Read More
Authors

Shireen Shaikh

Senior Counsel – Knowledge

Read More

Kathryn Clapp

Senior Counsel – Knowledge

Read More

19 May 2021

Law at Work - May 2021 – 9 of 10 Insights

Acas guidance on long COVID

  • Quick read

On 30 April 2021 Acas published some short advice on dealing with long COVID in the workplace. Essentially it makes four fairly common sense points that health problems should be discussed early, employers should support employees suffering long COVID, such as offering flexible working, and reasonable adjustments should be considered. Given that long COVID can present as a series of nebulous and intermittent symptoms, such as fatigue and poor concentration, it is easy to see how disputes might arise. Employers find it notoriously difficult to deal with intermittent absence in a fair and consistent way and the disruption caused to teams by intermittent absence, and possibly hidden disability, are well-known. The potential issues created by long COVID are further exacerbated by the fact that older people and ethnic minorities are more likely to be affected, so there is also the risk that mishandling long COVID issues will also become intertwined with discrimination issues.

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